Brick by Brick

“A little hurt here, a little hurt there, is like a brick here and a brick there…next thing you know, you have a wall.”Loren Thornburg

It all started one day with one brick. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ which speaks of the time it takes to build something important. Whether it’s Rome or the wall in your backyard the same principle holds true. Things are built over time. Just like we build walls to separate land we also build walls in our lives in the name of protection that become obstacles to our relationships. And often these walls come without knowing it. We didn’t think one thing was a big deal and then another thing came that didn’t seem like it was worth dealing with and then another thing added onto that we found another reason not to address until eventually we find another brick of pain is added to our wall and now the wall is too big for us to see beyond. Even if we wanted to we can no longer see past the wall of pain that surrounds us. We didn’t see it coming with a brick here and a brick there. Pride here, jealousy there, words that hurt us here, expectations unmet there, disappointment here, sadness there until there is pain everywhere. Over time those little bricks became powerfully destructive to our relationships and our lives. What we thought was protection has become our destruction. However, just as they were built so they can come down. It may not be all at once. It may have to be the same way it went up…one brick at a time. And as we continue to take down those bricks of pain we will find one day that wall is gone just as one day the wall was up. It all starts one day with one brick.

“Look I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. It is…safe to build on. Whoever believes need never run again…check the foundation wall you have built. Your refuge looks strong, but since it is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception…”
Isaiah 29:16-17 NLT

Walls bring us a sense of safety. They keep things out. However, often times we build walls that keep God out. There are two problems there. First, that we have built our own walls and second that God is not within them. God is the only true safe place. Yet, still we try to build walls to protect ourselves. The pains come and so we lay a brick. But what we use to build them with are lies and deception. Oh we don’t always know this is what we are doing because we do it in the name of protection. And it looks strong, but it won’t last. It can’t last. It’s not true, it’s not truth, it’s not Jesus. It may protect us from some pain for a little while, but truly it is only keeping true freedom out and our pain in. Rather than building walls that protect us from that which comes against us, we have separated ourselves from the only one who can truly Protect and truly free us from the pain that built the wall in the first place. There is safety in walls…only when they are His!